Hagerstown school zone speed cameras generate nearly $1 million

Speed cameras that were installed to monitor school zones in Hagerstown have generated nearly $1 million in revenue over eight months.

City spokeswoman Erin Wolfe said speeding tickets issued as a result of the cameras amounted to about $979,606 in total earnings from April 2012, when the first cameras were installed, to November 2012.

Of the amount raised from the 11 cameras that monitor 10 school zones in Hagerstown, the city through November received about $587,764, or roughly 60 percent of the money taken in from the tickets, Wolfe said.

Brekford Corp., a company based in Hanover, Md., provides the cameras in exchange for about 40 percent of the proceeds. Brekford’s share was somewhere in the neighborhood of $391,842.

Three of the city’s school zones are not monitored. Those zones are the Barbara Ingram School for the Arts, which encompasses two school zones on West Washington Street and South Potomac Street in downtown Hagerstown, and Washington County Technical High School off Oak Ridge Drive.

The cameras are encased in large metal boxes on the side of the roadway. Because there are 11 cameras and 14 boxes, the cameras are rotated periodically from site to site.

The 10 school zones that are monitored are in the 600 and 700 blocks of Northern Avenue, the 700 block of Franklin Street, the 700 block Washington Avenue, the 1300 block of Salem Avenue, the unit block of Memorial Boulevard, the 1000 and 1200 blocks of South Potomac Street, the 400 block of South Potomac Avenue, the 1200 and 1300 blocks of Marshall Street, the 100 block of Pangborn Boulevard and the 1300 block of Pennsylvania Avenue.

Not all of the cameras were installed in April.

Wolfe said the cameras in the 1000 and 1200 blocks of South Potomac Street, for example, were installed in November.

Motorists who are caught by the cameras driving more than 12 mph above the speed limit are fined $40, according to a letter the city sends out with the fine. Payments that are received no later than seven calendar days from the mail date on the citation qualify for a $5 reduction.

A $20 late fee is assessed if the citation isn’t paid within 30 days. The letter states further inaction would cause a vehicle registration hold with the Maryland Motor Vehicle Administration.

Each citation includes three photographs of the offending vehicle as it is driving through the school zone. One of those photographs is a closeup of the license plate on the rear of the vehicle. Citations also include the posted speed limit and the speed that the vehicle was traveling at the time of the infraction.

Hagerstown Police Chief Mark Holtzman said speeding citations in school zones are more expensive if they’re issued by an officer.

“A normal citation for speeding in a school zone can be between $90 and $140,” he said. “That also comes with points on your driver’s license and could raise your insurance.”

Motorists who get caught speeding on camera do not incur points on their licenses. In addition, insurance companies cannot use the tickets to increase rates.

Holtzman said empirical evidence shows that tickets associated with the cameras have cut down on speeding violations in the 25 mph school zones.

“We’ve seen a significant drop,” he said.

According to city statistics, 4,757 speeding violations were mailed in June, compared to 2,626 in October. Figures beyond October were unavailable.

“If you see a box ... If you see the signs, slow down,” he said.

Holtzman said the city is using its share of the camera revenue to beef up its safety service departments, which include police and fire.

The city will use a portion of the money to hire an additional officer and purchase a new patrol car, Holtzman said.

“Right now, it will be funding a new position at the police department to operate the program, so our regular staff doesn’t have to do it,” he said. “And that person will be an addition to our downtown squad, so it will provide extra visibility.”

The annual cost of hiring one officer, which includes salary and benefits, is approximately $87,000, according to city documents. A fully equipped squad car costs about $42,000.

The Hagerstown Fire Department will use its share of the speed camera revenue to reinstate three fire captain positions to help ensure a sufficient command staff on all shifts, fire officials have said.

Promoting the fire captains and filling their former positions would cost about $280,000, city documents show.

Fire officials have said hiring the captains would help reduce overtime that the department has been paying to cover those positions.